In light of recent protests against police brutality following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, many BART riders are calling on the BART Board of Directors to defund the agency’s own police department.
Almost every rider who called into Thursday’s virtual Board of Directors meeting suggested the agency save money during the coronavirus crisis by removing the BART Police:
- "This is a really horrible use of your budget."
- "They’re completely useless. They’re racist."
- "It’s not appropriate to have people with guns on trains."
- "BART PD doesn’t do anything BART-specific except for criminalizing riders for things like eating a sandwich on the platform."
BART Director Debora Allen caused a stir with her comments on BART Police, prompting at least one of her colleagues to call her comments "vicious, toxic and racist."
These comments from my colleague and fellow BART Board Director Debora Allen are vicious, toxic, and racist.And as I said, her threat to silence the public is unconscionable.I reject these comments and call on other BART board directors to do so. https://t.co/BpzJHPirOR
— Janice Li (@JaniceForBART) June 11, 2020Allen represents District 1 and has been on the Board of Directors since 2016.
KCBS Radio has reached out to Allen for comment and has yet to hear back.
Ten percent BART’s 2021 budget goes to funding the police agency. That’s about $91 million of the $915 million total operating budget.
Meanwhile, others sent in emails to BART Directors demanding increased police presence, while some called for an increase in mental health services.
"Neither the police nor the agents are trained to do emergency medical procedures," BART Station Agent Gigi Gamble said. "So, if we could increase the number of people doing outreach."
BART Board of Directors will vote on the proposed budget in two weeks before it takes effect July 1.
